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01. Spring Training

1) “King” Kelly and his Boston team of the rebellious Players League came to Charlottesville in March 1890 to prepare for the upcoming baseball season. Accompanied by Boston sportswriters who filed daily reports, the team stayed at a local hotel near the Union Station, played exhibition games with the talented U.Va. squad, and enjoyed what the city and University had to offer.

The Players League folded at the end of the 1890 season, but many of Kelly’s players were back in Charlottesville in 1891, this time for spring training with the Boston team of the American Association. In 1892, the Boston National League team (the NL was now the only surviving major league) took spring training in Charlottesville. For fifteen of the years between 1890 and 1916 major league teams would be here for spring training, usually spending about two weeks. Of those who appeared here, eleven wound up in the Hall of Fame: Dan Brouthers, Jimmy Collins, Hugh Duffy, Clark Griffith, Billy Hamilton, Walter Johnson, “King” Kelly, “Kid” Nichols, Amos Rusie, Frank Selee, and U.Va.‘s own Eppa Rixey.

In 1901, the first year of the American League, the Boston Red Sox came to town for spring training. Led by Jimmy Collins, they would finish second in the league. The great Cy Young, who would win 33 games for them that year, unfortunately chose not to train with his team in Charlottesville.

2) Teams that held Spring Training or played exhibition games at the University of Virginia:
—1890 Boston Reds; Players League; Mike “King” Kelly, Mgr.
—1891 Boston Reds; American Association; Arthur Irwin, Mgr.
—1892 Boston; National League; Frank Selee, Mgr.
—1893 Boston; National League; Frank Selee, Mgr.
—1895 New York; National League; George Davis, Mgr.
—1896 Boston; National League; Frank Selee, Mgr.
—1899 Boston; National League; Frank Selee, Mgr.
—1901 Boston; American League; Jimmy Collins, Mgr.
—1905 Washington; American League; Jake Stahl, Mgr.
—1906 Washington; American League; Jake Stahl, Mgr.
—1907 Buffalo; Eastern League, trained. (Game against Virginia rained out.)
—1908 Toronto; Eastern League Champions, trained.
—1910 Toronto; Eastern League, trained.
—1911 Philadelphia Athletics to play exhibition game but hail storm canceled.
—1912 Montreal; International League, trained.
—1912 Washington; American League; Clark Griffith, Mgr.
—1913 Montreal; International League, trained
—1913 Washington; American League; Clark Griffith Mgr.
—1914 Washington; American League; Clark Griffith, Mgr.
—1915 Washington; American League; Clark Griffith, Mgr.
—1916 Washington; American League; Clark Griffith, Mgr.

3) 1905 and 1906 under Jake Stahl, and from 1912-1916 under Clark Griffith, the Washington Senators (usually called The Nationals in those days) had spring training in Charlottesville. The great Walter Johnson was the main attraction on the 1912-1916 teams.

During their spring visits to Charlottesville the Senators would usually stay at a fraternity house vacated by the students living there, would train indoors at Fayerweather Gym, and would practice and play at the fine new facility called Lambeth Field.

In UVa’s first exhibition game with the Senators in 1905, the Cavaliers pulled a triple play. On March 18, 1905, The Washington Post reported that Frank Jackson, “a colored lad who hangs out around the University gym,” was recruited for an intra-squad game. He got one of his team’s seven hits, and made two of its six errors

4) Trips to Monticello
(Quotes from newspaper accounts, 1905-1916):

During the Washington team’s first Sunday in Virginia in 1905 the players took a complimentary tally-ho drive to Monticello. “To say that the boys enjoyed the trip up the mountain is expressing it mildly. The ride back was exhilarating and full of excitement. The pace set by the four horses coming down the steepest part of the mountain was rapid.”

In 1914 several players tried to visit Monticello. Buggies and four-seated rigs were hired but all were disappointed when, after they had struggled through mud, they learned that the former home of Thomas Jefferson was not open on Sundays.

In the following two years groups hired automobiles to try to get through the mud. Finally, in 1916, some of the team visited inside Jefferson’s home. Through the courtesy of Thomas L. Rhodes, caretaker of Monticello, team members Walter Johnson, George McBride, John Henry, Clyde Milan and several of their friends roamed at will through the house. The visit was arranged by Donald Stevens, a local automobile dealer. The tourists were shown the room in which Thomas Jefferson died, and the “famous malachite table.” They were shown a little board extending from the wall in Jefferson’s study and told he penned a portion of the Declaration of Independence on it. Mr Rhodes entertained the players with tales of the life of Jefferson, and gave the players what they called “the most enjoyable afternoon they had ever spent at Charlottesville.”

Teams stayed in Charlottesville at Wright’s Hotel (later called the Clermont) near the Union Station during their visits from 1891-1906. Clark Griffith’s Washington teams of 1912-1916 stayed at boarding houses, and at vacated fraternity houses on Chancellor Street. Mrs. Samuel Saunders prepared all the players’ meals. In 1914 Manager Griffith ordered 50 pounds of beef, butter and bottled water to be shipped from Washington to the training camp. The Washington Post reported “Manager Griffith is on the lookout for a barrel of apples known as the Albemarle pippin. He believed that apples taken just before bedtime are of great medicinal value. Each player is to receive two just before he retires for the night. Of course, Griff doesn’t like them himself.”

Players hiked and jogged through fields as part of their training regimes. In 1916 some of the Washington players took a five-mile walk along the railroad track. Muskrat and mink trails were discovered. Three players formed the “Bentley-Shaw-Rice Fur Company” and sold shares to raise funds to buy traps. Five fur skins were shipped to Washington to be turned into a hat for the trainer’s little girl and into gloves for Griffith.